# 2020 Kansas City Royals season

The 2020 Kansas City Royals season was the 52nd season for the franchise, and their 48th at Kauffman Stadium. The 2020 season was the first under new owner John Sherman, whose purchase of the team was approved by MLB on November 21, 2019. It was also the first season under manager Mike Matheny, replacing Ned Yost after having a ten-season tenure. The team finished with a 26–34 win–loss record, landing them fourth place in the American League Central.
On March 12, 2020, MLB announced that because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks in addition to the remainder of spring training being cancelled. Four days later, it was announced that the start of the season would be pushed back indefinitely due to the recommendation made by the CDC to restrict events of more than 50 people for eight weeks. On June 23, commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally implemented a 60-game season. Players reported to training camps on July 1 in order to resume spring training and prepare for a July 24 Opening Day.

## Offseason

* November 2, 2019: Alex Gordon (OF) elected free agency.
* November 5, 2019: Trevor Oaks (P) claimed off waivers by San Francisco.
* November 6, 2019: Jacob Barnes (P) released.
* November 20, 2019: Jorge Bonifacio (OF) (released 11/25), Nick Dini (C), Conner Greene (P), and Arnaldo Hernandez (P) designated for assignment.
* November 20, 2019: Foster Griffin (P), Carlos Hernandez (P), Nick Heath (OF), and Jeison Guzmán (SS) added to 40-man roster.
* December 2, 2019: Cheslor Cuthbert (1B/3B), Humberto Arteaga (INF), Jesse Hahn (P), and Erick Mejia (INF) elected free agency.
* December 12, 2019: Selected Stephen Woods from the Tampa Bay Rays in the Rule 5 draft.
* December 13, 2019: Signed free agent Jesse Hahn (P) to a major league contract.
* December 23, 2019: Traded Cristian Perez (INF) to the New York Yankees for Chance Adams (P).
* December 27, 2019: Finalized signing of free agent Maikel Franco.
* January 22, 2020: Signed free agent Alex Gordon (OF) and designated Heath Fillmyer (P) for assignment.
* March 25, 2020: Selected the contract of Trevor Rosenthal (P) and designated Eric Skoglund (P) for assignment.

## Season standings
### American League Central

vteAL Central :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 36 | 24 | .600 | — | 24‍–‍7 | 12‍–‍17 |
| Cleveland Indians | 35 | 25 | .583 | 1 | 18‍–‍12 | 17‍–‍13 |
| Chicago White Sox | 35 | 25 | .583 | 1 | 18‍–‍12 | 17‍–‍13 |
| Kansas City Royals | 26 | 34 | .433 | 10 | 15‍–‍15 | 11‍–‍19 |
| Detroit Tigers | 23 | 35 | .397 | 12 | 12‍–‍15 | 11‍–‍20 |

### American League Wild Card

vteDivision Leaders :
| Team | W | L | Pct. |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 40 | 20 | .667 |
| Oakland Athletics | 36 | 24 | .600 |
| Minnesota Twins | 36 | 24 | .600 |
vteDivision 2nd Place :
| Team | W | L | Pct. |
| Cleveland Indians | 35 | 25 | .583 |
| New York Yankees | 33 | 27 | .550 |
| Houston Astros | 29 | 31 | .483 |
vteWild Card teams (Top 2 teams qualify for postseason) :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Chicago White Sox | 35 | 25 | .583 | +3 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 32 | 28 | .533 | — |
| Seattle Mariners | 27 | 33 | .450 | 5 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 26 | 34 | .433 | 6 |
| Kansas City Royals | 26 | 34 | .433 | 6 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 25 | 35 | .417 | 7 |
| Boston Red Sox | 24 | 36 | .400 | 8 |
| Detroit Tigers | 23 | 35 | .397 | 8 |
| Texas Rangers | 22 | 38 | .367 | 10 |

### Record against opponents

2020 American League recordvte
Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2020 :
| Team | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NL |
| Chicago | — | 2–8 | 9–1 | 9–1 | 5–5 | 10–10 |
| Cleveland | 8–2 | — | 7–3 | 5–5 | 3–7 | 12–8 |
| Detroit | 1–9 | 3–7 | — | 4–6 | 4–6 | 11–7 |
| Kansas City | 1–9 | 5–5 | 6–4 | — | 5–5 | 9–11 |
| Minnesota | 5–5 | 7–3 | 6–4 | 5–5 | — | 13–7 |

## Game log

2020 game log: 26–34 (Home: 15–15; Away: 11–19) :
July: 3–5 (Home: 0–1; Away: 3–4)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveRecordStreak
1July 24@ Indians0–2Bieber (1–0)Duffy (0–1)Hand (1)0–1L1
2July 25@ Indians3–2 (10)Barlow (1–0)Karinchak (0–1)Holland (1)1–1W1
3July 26@ Indians2–9Carrasco (1–0)Bolaños (0–1)—1–2L1
4July 27@ Tigers14–6Griffin (1–0)Funkhouser (0–1)—2–2W1
5July 28@ Tigers3–4Alexander (1–0)Zuber (0–1)Jiménez (3)2–3L1
6July 29@ Tigers4–5Garcia (1–0)Kennedy (0–1)Jiménez (4)2–4L2
7July 30@ Tigers5–3Holland (1–0)Cisnero (1–1)Rosenthal (1)3–4W1
8July 31White Sox2–3Keuchel (2–0)Bubic (0–1)Colomé (1)3–5L1 :
August: 11–16 (Home: 7–6; Away: 4–10)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveRecordStreak
9August 1White Sox5–11Foster (1–0)Bolaños (0–2)Heuer (1)3–6L2
10August 2White Sox2–9Cease (1–1)Barlow (1–1)—3–7L3
11August 3@ Cubs0–2Mills (2–0)Duffy (0–2)Wick (2)3–8L4
12August 4@ Cubs4–5Hendricks (2–1)Singer (0–1)Ryan (1)3–9L5
13August 5Cubs1–6Darvish (2–1)Bubic (0–2)—3–10L6
14August 6Cubs13–2Keller (1–0)Chatwood (2–1)—4–10W1
15August 7Twins3–2Holland (2–0)Wisler (0–1)Rosenthal (2)5–10W2
16August 8Twins9–6Zuber (1–1)Thorpe (0–1)Rosenthal (3)6–10W3
17August 9Twins4–2Singer (1–1)Berríos (1–2)Barlow (1)7–10W4
18August 11@ Reds5–6 (10)Sims (1–0)Staumont (0–1)—7–11L1
19August 12@ Reds5–4Keller (2–0)Miley (0–2)Rosenthal (4)8–11W1
—August 14@ TwinsPostponed (inclement weather). Rescheduled to August 15.
20August 15 (1)@ Twins2–4 (7)Duffey (1–0)Speier (0–1)Rogers (5)8–12L1
21August 15 (2)@ Twins4–2 (7)Duffy (1–2)Berríos (1–3)Rosenthal (5)9–12W1
22August 16@ Twins2–4Dobnak (4–1)Singer (1–2)Romo (3)9–13L1
23August 17@ Twins1–4Smeltzer (2–0)Bubic (0–3)—9–14L2
—August 18RedsPostponed (COVID-19). Rescheduled to August 19.
24August 19 (1)Reds4–0 (7)Keller (3–0)Castillo (0–3)Rosenthal (6)10–14W1
25August 19 (2)Reds0–5 (7)Bauer (3–0)Harvey (0–1)—10–15L1
26August 21Twins7–2Duffy (2–2)Odorizzi (0–1)—11–15W1
27August 22Twins2–7Dobnak (5–1)Singer (1–3)—11–16L1
28August 23Twins4–5Clippard (1–0Bubic (0–4)Rogers (6)11–17L2
29August 24@ Cardinals3–9Flaherty (2–0)Keller (3–1)—11–18L3
30August 25@ Cardinals5–4Staumont (1–1)Gant (0–1)Rosenthal (7)12–18W1
31August 26@ Cardinals5–6Reyes (1–0)Rosario (0–1)—12–19L1
32August 28@ White Sox5–6Colomé (1–0)Kennedy (0–2)—12–20L2
33August 29@ White Sox9–6Newberry (1–0)Burdi (0–1)Hahn (1)13–20W1
34August 30@ White Sox2–5 (10)Foster (3–0)Zuber (1–2)—13–21L1
35August 31Indians2–1Barlow (2–1)Karinchak (0–2)Holland (2)14–21W1 :
September: 12–13 (Home: 8–8; Away: 4–5)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveRecordStreak
36September 1Indians1–10Plesac (2–1)Harvey (0–2)—14–22L1
37September 2Indians0–5McKenzie (2–0)Junis (0–1)—14–23L2
38September 3White Sox6–11Cease (5–2)Duffy (2–3)—14–24L3
39September 4White Sox4–7Heuer (2–0)Singer (1–4)Colomé (8)14–25L4
40September 5White Sox3–5Giolito (4–2)Bubic (0–5)Colomé (9)14–26L5
41September 6White Sox2–8Keuchel (6–2)Harvey (0–3)—14–27L6
42September 7@ Indians2–5Plesac (3–1)Keller (3–2)Hand (12)14–28L7
43September 8@ Indians8–5Holland (3–0)Cimber (0–1)Barlow (2)15–28W1
44September 9@ Indians3–0Duffy (3–3)Carrasco (2–4)Holland (3)16–28W2
45September 10@ Indians11–1Singer (2–4)Civale (3–5)—17–28W3
46September 11Pirates4–3Bubic (1–5)Brault (0–3)Holland (4)18–28W4
47September 12Pirates7–4Zimmer (1–0)Williams (1–7)Holland (5)19–28W5
48September 13Pirates11–0Keller (4–2)Kuhl (1–2)—20–28W6
49September 15@ Tigers0–6Boyd (2–6)Junis (0–2)—20–29L1
50September 16@ Tigers4–0Singer (3–4)Skubal (1–3)—21–29W1
51September 18@ Brewers5–9Rasmussen (1–0)Duffy (3–4)—21–30L1
52September 19@ Brewers0–5Burnes (4–0)Bubic (1–6)—21–31L2
53September 20@ Brewers3–5Lindblom (2–3)Keller (4–3)Hader (10)21–32L3
54September 21Cardinals4–1Staumont (2–1)Wainwright (5–2)Holland (6)22–32W1
55September 22Cardinals0–5Gomber (1–1)Singer (3–5)—22–33L1
56September 23Cardinals12–3Duffy (4–4)Martínez (0–3)—23–33W1
57September 24Tigers8–7Hahn (1–0)Alexander (2–3)Newberry (1)24–33W2
58September 25Tigers3–2Keller (5–3)Turnbull (4–4)Hahn (2)25–33W3
59September 26Tigers3–4Boyd (3–7)Hernández (0–1)Garcia (4)25–34L1
60September 27Tigers3–1Singer (4–5)Skubal (1–4)Hahn (3)26–34W1 :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Royals team member :

## Player stats
### Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | AVG | SLG |
| Whit Merrifield | 60 | 248 | 38 | 70 | 12 | 0 | 9 | 30 | 12 | 12 | .282 | .440 |
| Maikel Franco | 60 | 223 | 23 | 62 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 38 | 1 | 16 | .278 | .457 |
| Adalberto Mondesí | 59 | 219 | 33 | 56 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 24 | 11 | .256 | .416 |
| Nicky Lopez | 56 | 169 | 15 | 34 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 18 | .201 | .266 |
| Alex Gordon | 50 | 163 | 15 | 34 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 18 | .209 | .307 |
| Hunter Dozier | 44 | 158 | 29 | 36 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 27 | .228 | .392 |
| Salvador Pérez | 37 | 150 | 22 | 50 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 32 | 1 | 3 | .333 | .633 |
| Jorge Soler | 43 | 149 | 17 | 34 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 24 | 0 | 19 | .228 | .443 |
| Ryan O'Hearn | 42 | 113 | 7 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 18 | .195 | .301 |
| Ryan McBroom | 36 | 81 | 8 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 4 | .247 | .506 |
| Edward Olivares | 18 | 62 | 5 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 2 | .274 | .419 |
| Bubba Starling | 35 | 59 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | .169 | .237 |
| Cam Gallagher | 25 | 53 | 10 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | .283 | .434 |
| Franchy Cordero | 16 | 38 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 4 | .211 | .447 |
| Brett Phillips | 18 | 31 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | .226 | .387 |
| Meibrys Viloria | 15 | 21 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .190 | .238 |
| Erick Mejia | 8 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .071 | .143 |
| Nick Heath | 15 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | .154 | .231 |
| Matt Reynolds | 3 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Kelvin Gutiérrez | 4 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .111 | .111 |
| Oscar Hernández | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 |
| Team Totals | 60 | 1988 | 248 | 485 | 97 | 7 | 68 | 237 | 49 | 172 | .244 | .402 |
Source:

### Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Brady Singer | 4 | 5 | 4.06 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 64.1 | 52 | 29 | 29 | 23 | 61 |
| Danny Duffy | 4 | 4 | 4.95 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 56.1 | 53 | 33 | 31 | 22 | 57 |
| Brad Keller | 5 | 3 | 2.47 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 54.2 | 39 | 16 | 15 | 17 | 35 |
| Kris Bubic | 1 | 6 | 4.32 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 50.0 | 52 | 29 | 24 | 22 | 49 |
| Scott Barlow | 2 | 1 | 4.20 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 30.0 | 27 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 39 |
| Greg Holland | 3 | 0 | 1.91 | 28 | 0 | 6 | 28.1 | 20 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 31 |
| Josh Staumont | 2 | 1 | 2.45 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 25.2 | 20 | 8 | 7 | 16 | 37 |
| Jakob Junis | 0 | 2 | 6.39 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 25.1 | 35 | 18 | 18 | 6 | 19 |
| Kyle Zimmer | 1 | 0 | 1.57 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 23.0 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 26 |
| Tyler Zuber | 1 | 2 | 4.09 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 22.0 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 20 | 30 |
| Jake Newberry | 1 | 0 | 4.09 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 22.0 | 20 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 24 |
| Jesse Hahn | 1 | 0 | 0.52 | 18 | 0 | 3 | 17.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 19 |
| Carlos Hernández | 0 | 1 | 4.91 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 14.2 | 19 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 13 |
| Ian Kennedy | 0 | 2 | 9.00 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 14.0 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 5 | 15 |
| Trevor Rosenthal | 0 | 0 | 3.29 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 13.2 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 21 |
| Matt Harvey | 0 | 3 | 11.57 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 11.2 | 27 | 15 | 15 | 5 | 10 |
| Chance Adams | 0 | 0 | 9.35 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8.2 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 6 |
| Kevin McCarthy | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Gabe Speier | 0 | 1 | 7.94 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| Mike Montgomery | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5.1 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Glen Sparkman | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Ronald Bolaños | 0 | 2 | 12.27 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3.2 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Randy Rosario | 0 | 1 | 8.10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3.1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Scott Blewett | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Foster Griffin | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Richard Lovelady | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Jorge López | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 26 | 34 | 4.30 | 60 | 60 | 19 | 517.0 | 500 | 272 | 247 | 211 | 517 |
Source:

## Farm system

On June 30, 2020, Minor League Baseball announced that the 2020 season would not be played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Level | Team | League |
| AAA | Omaha Storm Chasers | Pacific Coast League |
| AA | Northwest Arkansas Naturals | Texas League |
| A-Advanced | Wilmington Blue Rocks | Carolina League |
| A | Lexington Legends | South Atlantic League |
| Rookie | Burlington Royals | Appalachian League |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Chukars | Pioneer League |
| Rookie | AZL Royals | Arizona League |
| Rookie | DSL Royals | Dominican Summer League |